HomeService areasSt. Augustine
St. Johns County · Old ground, modern loads
St. Augustine septic service on ground older than the plumbing
The oldest continuously occupied city in the country has the septic history to match: systems layered onto properties over decades, sometimes with no record of where anything sits.
St. Augustine at a glance
- County
- St. Johns County
- Well permits
- Florida Department of Health in St. Johns County
- Septic permits
- St. Johns County environmental health office
- Wells here
- old dug wells, artesian pressure and strong sulfur
Water in
Wells in St. Augustine: old dug wells, artesian pressure and strong sulfur
St. Augustine has been drawing on the Floridan aquifer longer than anywhere else in the country, and the artesian pressure that once made wells flow at the surface is still there in places. The water is hard and the sulfur is strong: the smell that greets visitors at the historic fountains is the same one a homeowner meets at the hot tap.
The older properties inland of the city still carry dug and driven wells from another era, some of them under floors. A sale is usually when one is found, and Call Flamingo tests the well in service and plugs the one that has retired.
Waste out
What septic systems in St. Augustine are actually up against
Locating comes first in St. Augustine more often than anywhere else in the service area. Properties change hands with no drawing, no permit copy and a lid buried under decades of landscaping, and the first honest step is finding the tank rather than guessing at what is wrong with it.
Once it is open, the recurring findings are age-related: concrete that has spalled at the waterline, baffles that have given way, and tanks that were sized for a smaller household than the one now living there. None of that is dramatic, and all of it is cheaper to catch with a lid off than with a bathroom backing up.
Tourism adds the other pattern. Guest houses, rentals and properties that fill and empty by season place uneven demand on systems designed for steady occupancy, and uneven demand is harder on a tank than heavy demand.
Well and septic work scheduled across St. Johns County
Wells and pumps in St. Augustine
Permits and paperwork in St. Johns County
St. Johns County permitting runs through the county health department for both the septic system and the well, and on coastal parcels the separation between the bottom of the drain field and the wet season water table is the number that decides whether a conventional system fits or a mound design is required. Who issues what in St. Johns County.
Straight answers
St. Augustine well and septic questions
Why is St. Augustine well water so sulfurous?
The limestone under the city carries sulfate, and the Floridan water here has some of the strongest sulfide on the coast. Aeration or oxidising media at the wellhead removes it.
Can a tank be found if there are no records?
Yes. Locating is part of the visit, using probing and the run of the plumbing from the house. It is common enough here to be routine.
Are older systems automatically due for replacement?
No. Plenty of older concrete tanks are structurally sound. What decides it is condition, not birthday, and that is what an inspection reports on.
Well and septic service in St. Augustine
Free estimates and seven-day scheduling, from a family-owned crew working out of Jacksonville.